Bodies may be missing couple

CAPROCK — Two bodies discovered in a remote area of Chaves County on Tuesday are believed to be those of missing Bovina couple Rosendo and Hortencia Lara, family and officials said.

The couple has been missing more than two weeks.

The bodies were discovered by a rancher near a ranch road around 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, about 10 miles north of Caprock off US 380, Chaves County Sheriff Britt Snyder said.

Bovina Police Chief Joe Orozco said a vehicle matching the description of the Lara’s pickup was located near the bodies. Anna De La Cruz, the couple’s daughter, said she also believes the family’s search for her parents is over.

De La Cruz said investigators believe the couple walked two miles from their truck in an attempt to find a road but never made it back.

She said she did not know why her parents would be in this area of the state where they have no family, leading her to believe her father’s dementia caused him to drive in the wrong direction and the couple simply got lost and did not know how to return home.

Rosendo Lara, 81, and his wife Hortencia Lara, 84, who also “gets confused” according to family members, had last been seen in Clovis on Jan. 19. That was the same day they went missing from their Bovina home.

De La Cruz said she loves her parents and will miss talking with them and taking care of her father.

Snyder said the bodies will be turned over to the Office of the Medical Investigator and sent to Albuquerque for autopsy.

He said in a news release it’s likely the bodies had been deceased in the location for a few days, but it would be difficult to determine how long they had been there.

Foul play is not suspected, Snyder said.